Toby Newton was told he would be allowed to stay in his home following a years-long conflict with the HOA over unpaid assessments.
A week after a Mesa, AZ, couple came forward to say they lost their $475,000 home over $977 in unpaid HOA dues, their HOA has reversed course and agreed to work out a payment plan.
Toby Newton and Sherrie Patten fell behind on the HOA assessment fees for their Superstition Springs home after Newton lost his job in 2024 and Patten was diagnosed with breast cancer. They had faced foreclosure by the HOA, until the association reversed course in the face of national outcry.
Speaking to Realtor.com® on Monday, Newton said he was excited that "this is becoming behind me. It's not behind me yet, but I just want this to be so I can take care of, you know, my medical expenses and get everything back to where it was when I offered them the payment plan."
The unusual case drew national media attention after the couple spoke out about their health challenges and accused the HOA of rejecting their offers to work out a payment plan at a time they were struggling financially.
“He had either put them off or watch me die,” Patten told KPNX. “And he's not going to watch me, you know. So, they had to understand that. There is a time and a place for empathy and sympathy, regardless of business.”
Newton says he went to the Superstition Springs HOA numerous times to arrange a payment plan, offering $50 a month, then $137 a month, and finally $200 a month. Each time, he says, the HOA, through its lawyer Augustus Shaw IV, rejected the offer.
Between interest and mounting attorney's fees, the original $977 charge ballooned up to more than $10,000.
After several months of back-and-forth, the HOA and Shaw initiated foreclosure proceedings on the home. In October 2025, Newton's home was sold to the Superstition Springs Master Association for just $8,172.
Then at the most recent HOA meeting on Wednesday night, the HOA reversed course and said that it would work with Newton to establish a payment plan so he could remain in the home.
During the meeting, Shaw admitted that the matter could have been handled better.
“The most important thing here is that now there is an open dialogue with two parties that understand it could have been done better," he said. "So, that being said, it could have been done better.”
Now, some members of the community are questioning whether Shaw should be replaced as their HOA lawyer.
"After last night’s board meeting where Augustus Shaw (our HOA attorney) admitted in front of the news cameras and the upset community that was in attendance that HE completely mishandled this case, why are we not rushing to replace him in an attempt to keep our property values from continuing to plummet?" wrote Superstition Springs homeowner Rustin Treseder on Facebook. "He is just a hired legal counsel, and there have to be better options out there at the high rate that he is charging our community."
Toby Newton and Sherrie Patten (together above) fell behind on the HOA assessment fees for their Superstition Springs home after Newton lost his job in 2024 and Patten was diagnosed with breast cancer (Gofundme) For his part, the homeowner Newton remains curious about why exactly the process remained so fraught. He also told Realtor.com he would be ending the GoFundMe he and Patten launched to raise funds to pay off their outstanding legal fees related to the case.
Newton said he was thrilled it had raised more than $34,000, but he said he didn't want to touch the money until the details of the HOA payment plan had been worked out and he could properly inform donors about what the funds would be used for.
Ironically, a law passed in Arizona in 2025 would have prevented the HOA from being able to foreclose on Newton's home at all.
SB 1494 "increases the threshold for foreclosure from one year of delinquency to eighteen months, and raises the minimum dollar amount that triggers foreclosure from $1,200 to $10,000."
It also requires an HOA to provide written notice to the delinquent homeowner at least 30 days before turning the account over to collections.